Smithtown seeks changes at Kings Park industrial park

Jezco Containers, of Kings Park, is among the businesses that could be affected by the Town of Smithtown's plan to compel changes in an area known unofficially as the Kings Park industrial park. (May 3, 2013) Photo Credit: Danielle Finkelstein

The town board is expected Tuesday to authorize legal action against several companies suspected of zoning-law violations.

The evolving plans take a carrot-and-stick approach to a problem that has frustrated town officials for decades: Businesses such as concrete and asphalt contractors, equipment storage facilities, landfills, sand mines and trucking companies that operate on properties not zoned for those uses.

The companies are along Old Northport Road, unofficially known as the Kings Park industrial park.

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said most of the town's attempts to shutter the businesses were blocked by court rulings dating to the 1980s. New zoning is needed, he said, to allow some businesses to continue but with tighter restrictions, "so we can go about enforcing the rules."

The rezoning plan, which would affect up to 126.4 acres belonging to about 10 business owners near Lawrence Road, would allow light industry but forbid heavy industry, solid waste storage and other "obnoxious" uses, said town planning director Frank DeRubeis. "We're trying to eliminate the noise and smell factor," he said.